This is a discussion, not a question. The entire text of said "question" is, quite literally, "What are common database development mistakes made by application developers?" If it can have infinite answers, is it really a question?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/621884/database-developme....
Yes, it really is a question. I don't mean to come off as sarcastic, but it's got a question mark at the end of it - one that you, yourself, put there.
You're the one that's imposing esoteric semantics and restrictions on this.
Great post, indeed, but it belongs on your blog.
Except that:
1) no blogs have the visibility and user base that SO has - not even yours or Joel's. 2) a blog post isn't crowdsourced - at least not to the extent that SO is
One of the biggest misconceptions about Stack Exchange is this idea that discussion is, in and of itself, a net good to the world -- and therefore we are monsters for not allowing discussion. I do not believe this to be true. There is, and will always be, an infinity of discussion. Like Jay Leno once said about Doritos, "type all you want, we'll make more". If something can be had in infinite amounts, what is its value?
Nutpicking and a false dichotomy. Ease up on the defensiveness and try to see it from the point of view of the many people that want/need to know the answer to that question.
For Pete's sake, at least 568 people upvoted the question, and at least 1004 people upvoted the first answer alone.
The community has spoken - they see this as valuable content.
Stack Exchange supports only the minimal subset of discussion necessary to get practical, useful answers to specific questions. The goal is not discussion, but science-in-the-small. Back up your claims. Show us references. Show us data. Share your specific experiences.
This is an overly narrow, baffling and frustrating definition of "question"
(And the goal may not be discussion, but discussion is a characteristic of most answers. It's a community, after all.)
